It Only Took Toby Five Seconds to Turn Down American Idol

It’s not his first TV offer: “I’ve been offered a sitcom over the last 10 years by every major network.”

Brad Schmitt

Now, don't get Toby Keith wrong: He's flattered and honored that American Idol even considered him before making Keith Urban the show's first country judge. After all, Toby is the guy who sings "I Wanna Talk About Me."

But Toby told reporters recently that it only took him about five seconds to turn down the offer to start talking about the opportunity.

"It's a great big TV show. Lucrative deal. Lot of money, but it's a lot of time, and it took me five seconds," Toby said.

"I know three weeks in that I'd be going, 'I can't believe I did this. I am so mad at myself. I knew better.' And so, instead of even thinking about it or letting somebody down, [I allowed] them to move on and get who they want. Let's just move on, and I just turned it down quick."

This isn't Toby's first time to turn down a TV opportunity.

"I've been offered a sitcom over the last 10 years by every major network, and we've talked to 'em on several occasions, and by the time you get to the end of the conversation, and the 'We gonna go forward or not?' it ends up being too much time."